What Early Retirement Will Look Like

As I remain focused on my goal to save money, invest it safely, and “retire” early. I often come across people who have unwavering opinions about the whole financial independence and early retirement mindset.

I don’t need to go into the idea of the Retirement Police. Mr. Money Mustache has already covered that. Early retirement to me, is really, more accurately financial independence: a level of wealth that allows me not to HAVE to work. Of course, if I want to work, that’s perfectly ok (and will probably make the work that much more enjoyable).

But today, I’m focusing on what I will do after I’m financially independent. I will likely quit my job. And then what?

I have heard people say that they would be so bored without a job. I’ve heard people say that they would be happy traveling their entire lives and not doing a single piece of work the rest of their lives.

You know what I say?

I have no *$!#ing idea! I have never in my life (not once!) been financially independent. I can GUESS at how I will react, at what lifestyle choices will make me happy, but really, I have no clue.

Maybe I will become a master at meditation and laying around on the beach all day with my thoughts WILL be satisfying. Maybe I will want to raise a family and that process is completely fulfilling to me. Maybe I will miss going into the office (unlikely, but who knows) and will want to find a new job. Maybe I will spend time on money-making projects, not because I need the money, but because that’s what interests me. Maybe traveling the world will be enough. Maybe I will want to volunteer with more of my time. I simply don’t know. And I don’t NEED to know.

My plan is to quit my job and give myself the space and time to figure it out! The reason I am chasing after financial independence is because I want the freedom and the choice to figure out how I want to carefully craft my life. I don’t need to get it exactly right on day 1. I get to experiment! I get to find out what makes me happiest. What an amazing opportunity that will be.

For those of you pursuing financial independence, I would encourage you to stay open to all options as well. You don’t need all the answers now. When quitting day comes, you will have time and freedom to figure it all out.

And like I said earlier. I have IDEAS about what will make me happy, but those ideas are absolutely subject to change. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

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4 thoughts on “What Early Retirement Will Look Like”

When I started reading about early retirement a few years ago, it was pretty exciting and I read MMM and the other blogs front to back. One thing that I always found to be an obstacle is the cost of living in NYC. So it will be very interesting to hear more about your journey. While it’s true that many costs and expenses can be minimized even in NYC, it definitely is a different journey than those who did it in lower cost areas.Andrew@LivingRichCheaply recently posted: How Many Credit/Debit Card(s) Do You Carry?

It is definitely a different journey, but not one without some advantages. If MMM lived in New York, he would be even more adamant about not owning a car, I’m sure – which will save untold money. He probably would also tell people to try to get better paying jobs earlier in their career since that is slightly more doable in NYC than other cities. The great thing about NYC is the number of resources. Just like with the Cheap Eats, there is SO MANY options for everything, that there are bound to be some options that are cheap.

I definitely think of FI as a journey and a path taken. The path may go to the right or to the left, but I’m still on the path to FI. I think it will be very similar when I reach FI, I still will be making choices on which road to take, but that will be the fun of it, making those choices. I also think as time creeps closer your path becomes more clear, hard to say when it’s 6 years away, much easier when it’s 6 months away instead.Even Steven recently posted: Feeling Under the Weather